Unexpected Happenings
by Ryoko-nee
Summary: The two stepsiblings are home alone, yet only one is living inside the house. Now why is that? --Story Paused--
1. Anger

Title: Unexpected  
TV Show (hence not mine): Life with Derek 

A/N: I don't know why I like this show... I just... do... and this pairing just fits (must be the 'you hate the ones you love' quote that's stuck in my head). Ah wells, enjoy!

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"-you can hold onto my credit card and here's the list of phone numbers. This is the number for my hotel room but the one below is George's-"

"-It's all right mom, I can read your writing on the paper. I'll call if anything goes wrong. Don't forget, I'm the responsible one not the slacker," assured Casey while patting Nora's shoulder (Marti's head was resting on the other one as Nora carried her).

"Right, you might not be the slacker but don't forget, it's summer break now. There aren't any consequences now to procrastinating," quipped Derek. "Aren't I right Smarti?"

"Of course Smerek!" Casey had the sudden urge to slap Derek over the head.

"Yes, but if you keep that habit up, you will be _living_ the consequences."

"Yes daaaad."

"Stop rolling your eyes." Derek promptly stopped.

"Now remember, no parties-"

"We've got it down Nora. Don't worry, everything will be fine and the house will be intact when you return."

George sighed. "It better be. Our house better be the same one when we come back. That means no eBay-ing any of our collector's edition items or anything that seems insignificant like our hair dryer. Understand Derek?"

"Hey, why's it just me?"

"Because you're the type to go against everything our parents tell us to do."

"Goody two shoes!"

"Stupid jock!"

"Yay! Casey and Derek are fighting again!" cried out a joyful Marti.

"Klutzilla!"

"Ego-maniac!"

"Grade Grubber!"

"Smart a-"

"Casey!"

"Derek!"

"Sorry mom/dad," replied the two quietly. "But yes, I know I am smart Case," whispered Derek to Casey while smirking.

"Now we expect you both to act your ages, remember, you're seventeen now. Be responsible adults-"

"Uhm, Nora, we have to go or we'll be late for our conferences," cut in George.

"O-oh, all right." She turned and called upstairs, "Come on Lizzie, Edwin, we're leaving!"

Lizzie and Edwin clambered down the stairs carrying their duffel bags. Both were excited to be going to their one-week overnight sports camp and had been waiting for a month to leave. Well, it was mostly Lizzie that was excited; Edwin moped about leaving his science equipment and computer behind.

"Take care and have fun, 'kay Liz?"

"Of course Casey!" Lizzie smiled, hugged her older sister, and ran out the door following George into their family van.

"Don't miss me too much."

"Don't worry Ed, I won't," joked Derek.

"Actually, I think you will. The tech guy is now leaving the house along with all his money."

"Uh, actually no. I know where you've hidden your piggy bank and if you changed its location, I've got a week to find it. Have fun at **sports** camp!"

Edwin sighed and accepted his fate. He too went out the front door while dragging his bag along the floor until his dad shouted at him from the car to pick it up.

"All right, last minute check mom. Keys?"

"Check."

"Research papers?"

"Check."

"Window cover samples? Marti's babysitter's phone number? Your coworkers' phone numbers? George's hotel number? Lizzie and Edwin's camp number?"

"Check, check, check, check, and check," said Nora with a smile.

Two honks rang in the air before Nora said goodbye to the two eldest step-siblings and raced out the door, but not without hugging each one. Casey waved as the van pulled out from the driveway until she could no longer see it. She closed the door with a smile on her face, heading towards the kitchen.

"Perfect, now for the party."

"Derek!" she cried out. "Did you honestly just say that? No parties remember?"

"Yeah, yeah."

"Der-rek! I won't let you this time!"

He sighed and after a moment turned his eyes up with a bored expression. "Look, what's it going to take for you to leave me alone this week?"

"Everything. That means you finally listening to mom and George about what we're allowed and not allowed to do, you doing your chores, and most importantly, you not bugging me." She ended the conversation as she walked upstairs to her room. Casey plopped herself on her bed, feeling restless and tired all at once. It was the same feeling she had every time after arguing with Derek. He was just so... frustrating!

"Ugh!"

She flipped herself over onto her stomach. Looking over to her bedside table, she picked up the phone and when she was about to dial Emily's number when she heard another phone pick up and the person started dialing a number. 'Who's Derek calling?'

A few rings later, a man picks up and asks, "Who is it?"

"Yo."

"D-Man!"

'Sam?' thought Casey. 'Yet, it doesn't really sound like him...'

"Hey, sup?" Derek turned aside his head and sighed before returning his attention to the other.

"Not much. How's Casey?"

'Why's this guy asking about me?'

"Uhm... fine?"

"Yeah, she _is_ fine. You're so lucky to be living with her bro, I mean if I was you, I'd be doing her-"

"-Yeah, uh, I want to talk with Sam, not you," cut in Derek.

"Oh come on, don't change the subject. Your sister's hot!"

"Stepsister. Now where's Sam?" (Casey by this time was thoroughly disturbed.)

The boy completely ignored him again and continued. "I mean have you looked at her? Her chest is hu-"

"Shut up and get Sam on the phone!" shouted an aggravated Derek.

"Wha? Oh, whatever. Tell her I said, 'Hi.'" He coughed once before yelling out, "SAM!"

Both Casey and Derek pulled the receiver away in attempts to not aggravate the ringing in their ears. One phone picked up while the other was put down on the other end.

"Hello?" came the familiar voice of Sam.

"Hey man."

"Derek, sup?"

"My house is completely empty right now."

"So a party huh?"

'Derek's still planning a party!?' thought an outraged Casey.

"That's right. You up for it?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Wanna call the guys for me? I'll be busy with the girls."

'Figures.' - Casey

"I'm honoured that you called me first then," kids Sam. "And- uh, hey, you okay?"

"Whaddya mean?"

"I'm hearing heavy breathing on your end."

In the silence that followed, Casey, suddenly conscious of herself, inhaled sharply and cursed herself for having done so. 'I'm so dead.' She hurriedly put her phone back on its stand.

"CASEY!" Derek this time not only yelled into the phone, but up the stairs too. "I'll call you back."

He ended his call and Casey could hear him stomping up the stairs. She tried to calm herself, turning to face away from the door when it suddenly slammed open. She flinched.

"What do you think you were doing?"

She did her best to speak in a steady voice while trying to add a touch of annoyance to it, "I was trying to sleep. Thanks for wak-"

"Don't even try to lie to me," he cut in. "_You_ were listening in on my phone call."

"No I wasn't." Casey silently rejoiced since her voice hadn't squeaked yet.

"You did. I heard you put your phone back so your lame attempt at lying isn't getting you anywhere." Derek by this time had walked over to the other side of the bed and stared down at her.

"Okay fine," she said, finally getting annoyed, "maybe I did listen in, but nothing serious was said. Even worse," now she was getting annoyed and stood up, "I find out that you still want to hold a party at our house! Do you want to go through the same thing that happened the first time we were left to take care of the house?"

"That's a little thing compared to the invasion of privacy you just committed! That's breaking the rules here!"

"Funny that _you're_ the one to be telling me about breaking rules! Or even talking to me about invasion of privacy!"

Derek reigned in his anger for that moment. "I'll tell you this MacDonald, for the rest of this week, don't even **think** about touching the phone."

"And I'll listen to you because?"

"Because I'm older."

In her defiance and perhaps stupid daringness, she went over to her phone and taunted him with her finger. She'd bring it close to the phone then pull back just in time while keeping her eyes fixed on his, challenging him. Then on the third taunt, she touched the phone, picked it up, and put it back down. She smirked.

By this time, Derek was towering over Casey but she continued to look into his eyes, both too pig-headed to stop their dispute. They continued staring at each other, trying to overpower each other's stubbornness. Anger welled within Derek from the previous week's arguments, this week's arguments, his recent meeting with his mother...

A chord within Derek snapped.

With sudden strength, he pushed Casey back onto her bed and began punching her wherever he could: her stomach, her chest, her face, anywhere where her feeble arms weren't blocking was sufficient for him.

"Derek!" she cried out, "Stop!"

But he didn't hear her. He was releasing his pent up anger and without any parent in the house, he could not be stopped.

"STOP!!"

This time her scream reached him but not without a final blow to her cheek. Derek, panting hard, stepped back to see what damage he had caused and was bewildered at the sight before him.

Casey's shirt had ridden up her body and bruises were clearly marked on her stomach as well as on her arms and legs. Her chest was heaving up and down as she gasped for air, but it was her face that shocked him most. Her forehead had a small trickle of blood flowing down to her pillows, her eyes were puffy from crying and the right one was particularly swollen, her nose leaked blood in a small river down her bruised cheeks, and who knew what it was like beneath the matted hair. It was her eyes though, the complete look of fear, terror, horror, that scared him. _Because it was he that caused that fear.  
_

Her pitiful sniffles, oddly enough, seemed to resound like crashing waves inside the little room. With wide eyes, Derek looked at his hands and registered that they actually hurt a bit. He turned his gaze back onto his stepsister and raised a hand with full intention to help her when she screamed.

"Get away from me!"

"B-but you're injured..."

"You don't think I know?! Get away from me! Get away! Get away!"

"C-Casey..."

"Get out! Get Out! GET OUT!!!!" He panicked and left her room as she continued to scream herself hoarse.

Hours later, Derek found himself sitting in front of the television. The sky outside was dark, the moon glowed, and stars shimmered above. He took no notice of this. The shower upstairs turned on but he paid no attention to it. He could barely pay attention to what was happening in front of him on the TV screen. Images and colours flashed by but his eyes, ears, and brain didn't seem to want to cooperate to make sense of the signals his senses were receiving.

His ears after a while picked up the sound of footsteps descending the stairs, but it was obvious that the person was trying to keep as quiet as possible. The sudden intrusion of sound from the doorbell nearly made Derek fall off the couch from surprise. Curious, he turned to see Casey (he winced when he saw that her face was still swollen) hurry down the last few steps before opening the door.

"Hi, a large pepperoni pizza?" Casey cleared her throat and acknowledged that it was her order. "All right, it comes to a total of seven dollars and ninety-six cents." She opened up her wallet and paid him, he handed the pizzas over, thanked her, and was about to leave before he stopped and shyly asked if he could ask her a question.

"Huh? Sure."

"I don't mean to be nosy but... why are you so..." he started off uncomfortably, "Uhm..."

"Bashed up?" she helped.

"Uh, yeah ehehe," he laughed nervously.

'What are you gonna say?' thought Derek, starting to feel annoyed all of a sudden, 'Tell him it was your stepbrother that did that to you? The one sitting over here on the couch?'

"Oh haha, yeah, I get asked that a lot." ('What?' - Derek) "I was in a game of rugby recently with my friends and well, things got a little out of hand." She laughed lightly and the delivery guy unknowingly felt a lot more relieved.

As he headed back to his car, she called out, "Oh hey, sorry!" He turned around. "I forgot to give you tip." She wasn't happy but even after telling him a lie, she felt a bit better as well and was feeling generous. He went into his car feeling proud for getting a fiver that night. 'Hmm... maybe asking your customers how they feel isn't such a bad thing.' And off he drove to make another delivery.

Back inside the Venturi-MacDonald house, Casey closed the door and was bringing the pizza upstairs when Derek, falling back into his routine of 'the annoying stepsib', started speaking.

"I thought I told you not to touch the phone." 'Wait, what am I saying? I don't need to bring that back up again, do I?'

She stopped cold in her tracks. Then very slowly turned to look at him, "I didn't. I ordered online." Her voice was quiet, minute. There was no will to fight left within her. Strangely though, her eyes, seeing almost nothing, seemed to bore straight through his and he felt like she could see all that he was in that moment. Without another word, she went back up the stairs and from where he sat, Derek heard her door close with an almost inaudible click. It was then that he noticed that the TV wasn't working (the cathode ray tube inside had just fizzed out of life).

It was quiet. 'How strange,' Derek mused to himself, 'for once, when everyone's gone except for the two of us, the house is finally the quietest it has ever been for the past how many years?' Yet he felt disturbed and rather uncomfortable. He also had this nagging feeling that he should go see Casey, but he had been rather successful in making excuses to himself to not go. 'She can take care of herself,' or 'it's Casey, she'll come back to me tomorrow and apologize for having gotten me angry' or the most effective one, 'she told me to get out so I should stay out.'

In the end, after two hours since the delivery guy left, Derek hauled himself off the couch and went upstairs. Walking down the hall, he had never felt such trepidation. The cliches of the heartbeats filling up one's ears in a deafeaning roar was currently happening, and every footstep seemed to sound like those of a giant's. He wasn't even all too sure why he was nervous. Ever since seeing Casey on her bed looking up at him in terror, his mind hadn't seemed to want to function since.

He reached her door after what seemed like years. It took him eleven tries to finally gather enough courage to knock on it but upon hearing no answer, he called out her name and asked for permission to enter - something he had never done. He tried again, feeling worried that she hadn't responded so giving her a little warning, he forced the door open.

Instead of seeing her moping on her bed or in front of her computer with the box of pizza ('Because that's what I came for... right?'), Casey was nowhere to be seen. A draft passed by and he shivered taking note that the window was left open. 'Wait, open? She... Is she still here?' Derek left and checked all the rooms in the house and either he and Casey were circling each other, or Casey wasn't in the house anymore.

'...Where'd you go Case...?'

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A/N: Heu... I'm not all that happy with this chapter... The story always seems to flow better in my head but this chapter, I don't think it flowed as well. Kinda choppy here and there and some of it seems so makeshift... Aiya! Then again, it could be because it was at midnight that I started typing this XD!


	2. Woohoo an AN

Aiyaaaaa, I'm so sorry, I know I've yet to post up another chapter although I do have bits and pieces in actual writing (not yet in notepad). But uhm, for future chapters, it's going to be a while before they come up because I was stupid and deleted all my notes/story ideas from my computer (I thought I had transferred it over but sadly, I didn't. I'm so upset because I had a LOT of stuff and now it's 'poof! gone!') so I'm kind of restarting fresh in a way. Some ideas run through my head but a lot of them are gone now. 

This note is up for now to let people know that no, I'm not exactly dead, nor is the story, but it'll just be a while before the next chapter(s) pop up on the site.

So sorry but I'll post up a new chapter as soon as I can. School work/readings haven't been helping me in terms of making time to write chapters either ehehehe (sighs).

Toodles for now,  
Ryoko-nee


	3. Uncertainty

Title: Unexpected Happenings  
TV Show (hence not mine): Life with Derek 

A/N: The relationships at the moment are as you'd probably expect; Emily's Casey's best friend and the same goes between Sam and Derek. Sam and Casey did date but now that they've split, in this fic, they still talk with each other as friends (as it was a mutual break up). Emily and Sam, I guess you could say they're friends, but it's interesting how they think similarly.  
Also, I haven't watched that many episodes because I seem to always either miss it and see clipped endings or I can't get the TV as someone else is watching it or I just can't find seasons 1 and 2 on the Internet at the moment.  
I also want to say thanks for the many "Fav. story/Story Alert"s that I've received from only chapter 1. It's very encouraging hehe. Take note that I might not update too quickly either because I am focused on my other fics as well... Sorry about that (although Life with Derek at the moment is my current drive). All right, so here we go!

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_Ding dong  
Ding dong  
Ding dong_

"I'm coming!" came a woman's voice but it seemed as though the visitor could not hear her above the pounding of the rain.

_Ding dong  
Ding dong  
Ding dong  
Ding dong  
Ding dong_

"Oh, keep your pants on!" huffed an annoyed chef as she tore off her kitchen mittens. When opening the door, she was about to give the person a piece of her mind but instead she shrieked. On her doorsteps stood a hunched being, drenched.

"Boo," said the dripping monster, no evil evident in its voice.

"-ahh..." Her scream died down and upon closer inspection, it was only a person wearing an oversized hoodie with the hood on. He/she was also carrying a pizza; nothing strange there and the voice was familiar. "Casey?" she asked.

"The one and only. Sorry for having scared you there Mrs. Davis."

Mrs. Davis lightly chuckled, still feeling the adrenaline rush. "Oh it's all right, it's just not a normal thing for me to see a hunched-back being in front of my doorstep everyday." She took a breath. "So, how can I help you today?"

"Well, I'm here to visit Emily."

"Ah yes, of course. Well, you know the way to her room." Then it seemed she finally took note of Casey's state. "Oh dear, uhm," she looked around, "how about I get you some fresh clothes and change you out of those?"

"No!" shouted Casey, shocking Mrs. Davis. "I mean," she recovered, "I was put up to a dare! Yes and it requires me to act like Igor from "Frankenstein" for a day."

"But you're soaked."

"I know, but I don't want to lose just because of a little rain."

Knowing how stubborn Casey could be, Mrs. Davis thought it would be best for her to learn a simple lesson of life by herself. The how-to-prevent-a-cold lesson of course. Instead, she offered to bring up a cup of peppermint tea which Casey gladly accepted.

"Well, you've been over so often, you know exactly where to go."

As Mrs. Davis returned to the kitchen ("Ah! My souffle!"), Casey removed her shoes and socks before heading up to Emily's room. She found Emily sitting on her bed, music playing in her ears. If she were her normal self, she would have probably pulled an earphone out and screamed into Emily's ear to announce her presence (2 years had changed Casey to loosen up and get louder just a bit) but she wasn't in the mood. Rather all she did was close the door and sit on the floor in front of the still-unaware Emily. The pizza had been placed upon the bedside table.

Being around Emily eased Casey's tormented thoughts a bit, allowing her to slowly relax her tense body and mind. But then her thoughts once again turned inwards and she shivered, not because of the cold water clinging to her clothes and skin.

Emily opened her eyes as the song ended and almost yelled before remembering that Casey was coming over. Unsure, and slightly upset at her floor becoming a mini swimming pool, she asked, "Casey? Is that you?" The thing nodded.

She turned off her iPod, removing her as she left her bed to fetch some towels. She rummaged through her drawers to find clean and most importantly, dry, clothing. She offered them to Casey but all that she took were the towels.

"Casey, I brought you your tea," said Mrs. Davis opening the door.

"Mom, what did I tell you about knocking?"

"Oh come on Emily, I've got my hands full with this tray and you know how unlady-like it is to knock on the door with one's feet." Emily rolled her eyes.

Mrs. Davis set the tray on Emily's work desk and was about to leave when she spotted the pizza.

Not recalling that Casey was holding it at the front door, she began lecturing her daughter. "Emily, how old is that thing? I told you to clean your room today. Did you not listen to me again?"

"What? Hey! I did and that's not mine!"

Casey cleared her throat before answering, "Sorry Mrs. Davis, I ordered it and brought it over to share with Emily. That way you can cook less tonight. I hope it helps."

"Oh, how considerate of you. Thank you and yes, that does make it a bit easier for me. I hope the tea'll help you feel better."

"I'm sure it will, thanks." Mrs. Davis then left the room, closing the door behind her.

The two girls sat in silence for a moment before Emily asked, "Why are you in an oversized hoodie?" Casey remained quiet, something very unlike her and this worried Emily. "Casey, what's wrong? What's with the hood?"

Casey slowly took the pillow out from her back (her makeshift hump) and placed it on the used towels. She didn't do anything after.

This obviously ticked Emily off. In her frustration, she went over to Casey and forcefully pushed the hood back which was when she saw Casey's swollen eyes and puffy cheeks. Her eyes went wide and she quickly swallowed her gasp.

"Casey, Casey! What happened? Who did this?" All she received as a response was a crying girl sitting before her, hands over her face.

Not even noticing the water anymore, Emily went over to her best friend and just hugged her, rocking her. She tried to think of saying something, those whispers of reassurance, but nothing came to mind.

They sat in this position for an hour after which Emily too was thoroughly chilled to the bone. She managed to convince Casey to dry off and to change out of her wet clothes into her warmer pjs. Emily noticed the other bruises on her friend's arms and legs as she too changed into her pjs.

Presently, both girls were lying on the bed, facing the ceiling when Emily prodded Casey once again. "What happened? Who did that to you?"

Casey slowly sat up, took the cup of lukewarm tea from the table and slowly sipped it. Emily waited knowing that her friend would give her the answer once she was ready. But her patience was wearing thin so when she was about to ask again having received no reply, Casey stammered, "I-I..." she paused and stopped.

"Yeah?" Emily said, trying to encourage Casey to continue.

"I... don't think it would be a good idea for me to tell you."

Emily felt like giving up at that moment but she persisted. "And why not?"

"Just..." Casey tried to speak but her nervousness caught her tongue and her brain formed incoherent sentences, "just because."

Emily too sat up, turned to look at her friend and made her look her in the eye. "That's not a reason Casey and you're supposed to make a bit more sense when you're around me."

Casey sighed, knowing that her best friend was right. She just didn't want... Wait, what was it that she didn't want? She could rat out Derek right now, make Emily hate him forever, and who knows, if more people know, maybe then he wouldn't be so popular at school or in the future. Yet she couldn't bring herself to do that. At least she felt she couldn't tell people her story with that reason behind it all because if it was, then what did it make her? A truth teller? or a tattle taler? Something else? What?

Emily watched Casey's face change with supposedly each thought. Once it maintained a relatively constant look, she approached her once more. "Casey, I'll change my question from 'who did that to you?' to 'can you tell me who hurt you?'"

Casey came back to earth. "I could..."

"And will you?"

"I... don't want to." That was a lie; Casey really wanted someone else to know the problem.

"And why not? I am your best friend, right? Best friends tell each other these things, especially when the other is hurt."

Without thinking, Casey blurted out, "I just don't want you to think badly of him."

Both were silent for a moment.

'So a guy hurt Casey.'

'What did I just say?'

Emily took a deep breath. "Okay, I promise you Case that I will not tell anyone about this or change my opinion of your attacker."

This brought a small smile to Casey's lips. "You already have."

"Oh well, okay fine, I'm going to be angry at him but you can't blame me for that. I just promise that I'll try to understand the situation, not tell anyone about this, and try my best to remain neutral. You are my best friend so I'm bound to feel something in the end."

Casey nodded her approval and with much courage, said the name that plagued her mind,

"Derek."

She also quickly shoved a pillow into Emily's face having correctly predicted that her best friend would begin screaming angrily at the top of her lungs.

In a few minutes, Emily calmed down. However, she couldn't stop thinking, 'Derek? My Derek? _He_ did this?'

"Case, are you serious? This isn't funny," she replied at length, but looking into Casey's eyes, she knew that it wasn't a joke. "Why did he hurt you?"

Casey retold her story explaining about the family being out of the house for a week, the phone call (at which Emily also found disturbing), how she argued with Derek about the house party, and finally the sudden beating. Though Emily could understand how Derek would be annoyed with his stepsister, it didn't explain to her why he'd bash her up. It was an outlier in her data, something that just didn't fit with everything else that he had made himself to be. Derek simply wasn't a violent man at least not to that extent.

'So then why?'

The girls talked a bit more into the night about theories and comforting/reassuring each other and eventually, both fell asleep on Emily's bed; teapot empty and pizza untouched.

Derek woke to an eerily silent house the following morning. He sat up and after refocusing his attention to the present moment, found himself sitting on the couch in front of the television. He remembered his reasoning for sleeping there because he thought that he'd be able to catch Casey if ever she left or returned (whichever was the case) from either the front or back entrances. However, it seemed that she was either really quiet and managed to tiptoe upstairs without making a sound after opening squeaky doors, or she simply wasn't around.

He was worried about her but would kill someone if ever anyone found out. 'Where could you be Case?' he asked himself once again. The obvious answer would be Emily but he'd been having trouble gathering enough courage to call her. It had been a really long time since he'd dialed her number, much less called and talked to her. Figuring that a shower would help, he left the couch and in his room, gathered his things and proceeded with his morning routine.

Feeling cleansed only outwardly, he put on his cleanest casual clothing and headed downstairs. He cooked a quick breakfast, cleaned out the dishwasher, put in the dirty dishes, and busied himself with menial tasks, trying to avoid his 'big plan of the day'; visiting Emily.

After making a fool of himself while vacuuming (he sucked in one of his pant legs) and was thankful that no one was there to see it, he knew that he could no longer put off going next door. And the fact that the girls in his magazines, posters, and websites weren't interesting him was a clear sign that something or someone else was on his mind.

At ten to eleven, he picked up his house key, put it into his jacket pocket and finally closed the front door behind him. The distance from his house to Emily's suddenly seemed a lot farther than it used to be but he pushed on until he found himself standing in front of her front door. And like the previous night, it took him eleven tries until he finally had enough courage to knock on the door.

"I'm coming!" came Mrs. Davis' voice again, sounding a bit cheerier than the previous night's. "Why Derek! It's so good to see you!" she said upon opening the door, rather glad not have had a bucket of ice-cold water fall on her as expected. Every night, she'd say to herself that after years of living next door to this prankster, her awareness level had definitely heightened and was glad of it.

"It's nice to see you too Mrs. Davis. Is Emily home?"

"Oh yes. EMILY!" she called out behind her, "DEREK'S HERE TO SEE YOU!"

Had Derek been another, he'd have been bright red in the face at that moment.

A few seconds later, Emily came out from the kitchen with a smile before sending her mother off. However, once she refocused on Derek, her smile was still in place but its message definitely collided with the rage present in her eyes.

"So, what do you want?" she spitted out, arms crossed over her chest.

It took him a second to recollect himself from the shock at her attitude. "I want to know where Casey is."

"And I'd tell you because?" she shot back, each word punctuated.

"Because I'm looking for her," he stated, voice slightly wavering.

"Well that's not a good enough reason, goodbye," she said without pause. She proceeded to slam the door in his face and even after he knocked repeatedly, it never reopened.

Derek was determined (and rather angry at Casey's 'bodyguard'), so knowing instinctively that Casey was inside, he went around to the back of the house with a handful of stones in a fist. Having located Emily's window (he remembered seeing her open her windows from time to time), he began throwing some of them at it, seeing them bounce off the panes of glass.

From inside, Casey looked up from the bedsheets to see black dots hitting the window making a tick or tack sound depending on the different sizes. Curious and with Emily still downstairs eating breakfast (the Davises didn't know that Casey had slept over), she went to the window and opened it slightly, peering down to see who was throwing rocks up.

Derek saw the window open and stopped throwing rocks but instead of seeing Emily's annoyed face glaring at him, there was Casey with a questioning look suddenly turning into absolute fear once realizing who was standing in the garden. "Casey!" he yelled, "I'm sorry!"

She promptly closed the window, drew the blinds and returned to the bed, burrowing beneath the blankets and clutching a pillow close. At that moment, Emily returned to see a sniffling mound on her bed and after learning of what had just transpired, she rushed to open the window.

That was when Derek got to see the annoyed face glaring at him.

"What do you want Derek?" she yelled out, loud enough for him to hear but not enough to disturb the rest of her family.

"I want to talk with Casey."

"Well you can forget about that."

"Look, I just want her home."

"So you can b-" she stopped knowing that although her family couldn't hear her shouting, someone else would and Casey hadn't wanted anyone else to know about the situation. Feeling more frustrated than ever, she told him to wait for her at the front door and reluctantly let him in. Both went upstairs but only she entered the room and closed the door after.

She returned in a few minutes (having comforted Casey) and opened the door just a little bit and informed Derek that this was how he would talk with her. She'd be the one to pass the messages back and forth but he was not allowed to see Casey.

This ticked him off a bit (she's his stepsister for crying out loud) but he conceeded, he wasn't on home territory. "All right fine, I'll go with your rules. Just tell Casey that I want her home."

The door closed and reopened. "She says that she doesn't want to and I agree. All you'll do is beat her up again," she whispered.

His mental guards went up as well as his anger. "So she told you."

"Well no _duh_. I'm glad to know that you at least realize that I am her best friend; we tell each other everything."

He dropped the subject and continued with the previous one. "I'm not looking for a fight or your opinion. Tell her that I demand her to come home," he said, his mental stage not permitting him to carefully select his words. 'Because whatever Derek wants, Derek gets.'

He waited as Emily re-entered her room and came back out a minute after. "She says 'screw you' and 'no'."

"Emily, don't add in anything that she hasn't say. Again, I don't need your comments."

"Alright, alright," she said annoyedly. "She says 'no'. Satisfied?" Then continued without a break, "Now can you leave? You're obviously distressing her and I don't need her to cry a river in my room over a guy like you."

"You almost make it sound like I was dating her."

"Screw you Venturi now get out! She's not coming home today, not tomorrow, not ever!"

"Yeah, and when the rents are back, then what?"

"Then she'll come back because your parents will have murdered you by then. Now get out!"

"No, I want her home now."

"Get out!!"

Those two words replayed back and forth inside Derek's head and he wondered why.

_"GET OUT!"_

'Right, Casey said the same thing last night...'

He blinked in rapid succession, trying to process his thought. However, it disturbed him so much that without continuing the argument, Derek hurriedly ran down the stairs, out the door, and once he sat back on the couch from that morning, he had never felt that much more relieved and that much more irritated.

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A/N: So haha, another chapter is up. Surprise surprise! When will the next one come? I have no clue. Again, refer to the Author's Note that I will leave up for the next while although yay! I have found my folder:D


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